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Friday, February 12, 2016

A Day In The Life of a Toddler Toting Working Mom

I decided to document a Wednesday for this, which - along with with Tuesday - is one of our toughest days. Those are the days I teach yoga and then Joe comes to the office with me and I have no one to help me with him. Maybe next time I'll document one of our easier days.
Here goes...

At 6 o'clock on the dot the dude is up for the day. He fusses a little bit but mostly entertains himself for about 20 minutes and then he gets frustrated and I have to bring him into bed with me. I grab a toy to keep him entertained and I manage to keep us in bed for another 25 minutes.

There is a sweet moment in there when I kissed him on the shoulder and he rolled over and give me a big sloppy open mouth baby kiss right on the lips.

Around 6:45 I help him climb off the bed and then let him wander around the room while I pick out my clothes for the day and brush my teeth. Panda's still not a huge fan. She still walks away every time he comes near her.

A little after 7:00 we make our way downstairs and I set him set up with a clean diaper, bottle of milk, and scrambled eggs and peanut butter toast for breakfast. I make myself a latte and drink it while I spend the next hour packing our bags for the day, cleaning up around the kitchen, and helping the dude with his breakfast.

In his bag are 2-4 oz bottles of whole milk, a 7 ounce pouch (I think apple, yellow squash, spinach, and peas), one empty straw sippy cup for water later, a 4 oz jar of Cheerios, one whole tangerine cut into pieces, a 4 ounce jar of blueberries, and a jar containing a handful of Trader Joe's inner peas.
I pack him 3 Grovia hybrid diaper shells, 4 stay dry soaker pads, one change of clothes, a pack of wipes, a grovia magic stick, hand sanitizer, and a plastic bag because all the wet bags are dirty.

In my gym bag, I pack second set of workout clothes (which will be my outfit for the day), shampoo/conditioner minis, deodorant, lotion, a towel, shower flip-flops, my make up bag, and hair goop.

A little after 8:00, I pick out the baby's clothes for the day, set our bags by the door, get him dressed, take the dog out and then load up.
Just before 8:30 the car is loaded, a load of diapers are in the dryer, and were headed out the garage.

We arrive at the gym around 8:40. I drop Joe off at the kids club, and then I walk by the group fitness room on my way to the stair climber, when I notice they're doing shadow boxing instead of punching the heavy bags in Power Boxing today. I'm nervous about punching heavy bags since my wrists are still messed up from all the hormones and tendinitis those first few months of mom-life, so I get excited and run in to join class.
Class is hard. I leave right red sweating, grabbing my knees, taking breaks. At 9:25/9:30 I hop in the shower get ready.

By 10:00, I've picked up the dude and we load up in the car to drive out Encino for mommy and baby yoga.

At 10:20 we arrive in Encino. Dude falls asleep in the car in the car on the way so I sadly wake him and a pop up into coffee bean for a croissant because I hadn't eaten yet this morning and am feeling a bit lightheaded. Then we go up to baby yoga and arrive at 10:29 - just in time to start class. We have nine mommies and babies so there are a total of 20 people in that tiny room.

We have a lot of fun. Joe doesn't hurt any babies by stepping on their hands or climbing on their faces. We end class at 11:30, right on time. And at 11:50, we load back into the car to head to work.

At 12:25 I totally stopped at Jack-in-the-Box just a drive-through to get a drink. I am parched even though I basically downed 2 water bottles earlier, and Joe was asleep in the car.

We arrive at work around 12:30 and I get us set up to go upstairs. I play around on my phone for a bit, letting the kiddo sleep in the car.

I set him up with a pouch and some tangerine pieces for lunch, then I get to work on tax returns.

I finally stop for lunch at 2:35. I had this yummy wrap from Trader Joe's. It was my first time trying it. The sauce is a little messy but it was still delicious.

Then back to work.

Around 4:00, dude has his second bottle. He also cut his finger and needed a band aid for the first time ever (besides when he's gotten shots). I ended up using the bottle to calm him down. Poor guy.

He eats a ton of snacks before we go, and then around 5:25/5:30 we finally load up in the car to head home. It's later than we usually stay because it's getting close to tax season and I have way too much to do. Traffic is normal so it takes us about 45 minutes to get home and I pull into the garage around 6:15. He fell asleep in the car on the way home. So I carry him up and we take Panda Bear out to potty.

I get him set up in his highchair and give him some blueberries to hold him over while I go into the kitchen to make him dinner. He's not happy to be in his highchair but he is happier when I get him some water. He drinks his water and eats the rest of his blueberries plus some cheerios while I make his dinner.
He's having ravioli and peas tonight, and while the ravioli cooks I finish unloading the dishwasher from this morning and empty the dirty stuff from his diaper bag, which is pretty much everything.
Then I roll his high chair into the kitchen and give him his dinner while I finish doing the dishes and start the chicken for dinner.

He finishes his dinner around 7:10 and I get him into his jams as Tim gets home from the gym. He helps me finish putting the baby in his pajamas, and then I get Joe his bottle and we all go upstairs where Tim helps get the lights and the fan just so. We've got the windows open tonight. Hopefully it doesn't get too cold.
I give Joe his bottle, trim his nails and read him a book. Then we go together to turn off the light.
I hug him tight and sing a little song. Then give him a kiss, put him down and walk out of the room. Tonight he cries when I leave so I go back and lay down on the bed until he calms down. I leave the room at 7:45. Late. And go downstairs to do some more chores and get dinner going.

By 8:00, veggies are chopped and roasting, and I've got another load of laundry running downstairs.
Then I put away diapers, and get some farro started.

At 8:30 we sit down for dinner. Roast chicken, kale and mushrooms on top of farro, along with a glass of barbera.

The final season of mad men is FINALLY on Netflix, so we watch a few episodes. I go downstairs and rotate laundry between episodes.
We watch 2, and then get ready for bed. Brush teeth, wash face, clean up the dinner mess.